Like the international financial markets, the art museum is a controlling Western institution.
Tag: MIT Press
Gabriel Orozco’s Journals Invite Readers to Retrace His Steps
What makes Written Matter different from some artists’ journals is that one need not be familiar with Orozco — or even the legacy of Conceptualism to which his work is tethered — to enjoy it.
Ana Mendieta, a Feminist Pioneer, in a New Light
In Radical Virtuosity, Genevieve Hyacinthe brilliantly reframes Mendieta’s celebrated works, yet for a book so rooted in race, the final analysis feels only half-full.
“Why Is Television Dumb?” and Other Musings by Nam June Paik
In the recently published collection We Are in Open Circuits, Paik’s prescient critiques of image consumption suggest he probably would’ve been great at Twitter.
Elizabeth Otto Unlocks History in Haunted Bauhaus: Occult Spirituality, Gender Fluidity, Queer Identities, and Radical Politics
Her recent book offers an investigation of the irrational and the unconventional currents swirling behind the Bauhaus’s signature sleek surfaces and austere structures.
The Liberating Power of Conversations About Art
When I got to know Bill Berkson, my life as a writer was completely changed.
The Horrors of the Atomic Age Through Artists’ Eyes
The art and literature in Invisible Colors turn our gaze toward the blinding fury of the atom’s explosion in its singular purpose to raze and slaughter.
How Our Relationship to Books Has Changed Throughout History
Amaranth Borsuk’s The Book traces how the nature of reading changed from an activity practiced by a small number of scholars to a pastime of the masses.
Art, Architecture, and Philosophy in Aesthetics Equals Politics Edited by Mark Foster Gage
This book looks at how aesthetics—understood as a more encompassing framework for human activity—might become the primary discourse for political and social engagement.
Exploring the Cultural and Philosophical History of Neon in Luis De Miranda’s Being and Neonness
The book looks at a cultural and philosophical history of neon, from Paris in the twentieth century to the perpetually switched-on present day.
Plastic Capitalism by Amanda Boetzkes Examines Contemporary Art and the Drive to Waste
The book links the increasing visualization of waste in contemporary art to the rise of the global oil economy and the emergence of ecological thinking.
Nerd Out with This Encyclopedia of Architects’ Scale Figures
The encyclopedia, which considers architecture’s relationship to people, includes some 1,000 images of figures produced by more than 250 architects.